We Are Three
by Sarahbelle Saunders
Summary: I'm merely keeping this up so people can see how pathetic it is.
1. Found Three, Lost One

_We Are Three_

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fanfic

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_Summary_: We are three and forever will be... Something is missing, and they don't understand what it is.

_Characters_: Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, Splinter, and Michelangelo.

_Warnings_: Possible character death.

_Mood Music_: Barlow Girl: Never Alone

_Disclaimer_: Don't own the TMNT as much as I want to. Then again, if I owned it, Mikey would be the main character. Either that, or his death would be mourned. O.o

_Other notes: _Sorry guys, I won't be updating my other stories any time soon. This'll be my only one for a while. I'm on a TMNT trip. For first time readers of mine, I hope you enjoy this. Check out my favorites if you want to read some quality stuff.

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Donatello leaned back in his chair with a sigh and closed his eyes, listening intently. His brow furrowed as he realized thumps were coming from somewhere in the lair, but then relaxed again as he noticed no words were being traded. That meant all was peaceful: one or the other was just fighting.

He leaned forward again and checked the time on his computer, then groaned softly as it glowed a soft, _2:30 am_. Donatello contemplated going to sleep in his warm, comfortable bed, but soon disregarded the idea as his eyes landed on a large jumble of wires and metal. A radio. Well, it used to be, before it had somehow angered Raphael during one of his spats with Leonardo.

The sounds stopped for a moment, then grew far louder, resounding through his head horribly. He shook off the ridiculous idea, he needed to do his part in this family. Donatello drooped a bit. _However small it is_...

He sat up in attention as he noticed his computer was beeping, then grunted in annoyance as a random pop-up appeared on his desktop. Donatello got rid of it quickly, then got to work on the radio.

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Raphael struck out at the bag hanging from the ceiling. _How _dare _he_! He gritted his teeth together, punching harder. _He ain't perfect either_! He grew perfectly still suddenly, then spun around. "Leo?" he blinked for a moment before rolling his eyes and striking even harder at the bag.

In the back of his head, the cool colour of blue flashed. He furrowed his brow and shoved his fist forward with the most possible force and repeated it, finding some sense of joy in the idea of doing this to his brother.

Raphael's blows hit hard, causing the surprisingly heavy punching bag to swing back and forth. A little poetic voice piped up in his head, _Kinda' like our fights_... He shook the idea out of his head and proceeded to roundhouse kick the bag with his right foot. This caused it to swing to the left. He grunted in satisfaction and continued to hit it around, making little sounds every once in a while.

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The particular blue-banded turtle was currently sitting in his room. Legs crossed and on the floor, he attempted to clear his mind. However, the thoughts persisted, buzzing in his head like a swarm of bees, every word stinging as bad as one. With a sigh he gave up and stared at the wall instead, disregarding the idea of meditation.

Why couldn't Raphael just _try_ to understand that he had to _stay inside_? _I mean, really. The only instruction that Splinter gives us he just _has_ to break it_..._ he must have this little _sense_ that tells him he must go out whenever he's not supposed to!_ Leonardo shook his head slightly, causing the bandanna tails to sway behind him. _I should get to sleep, I'm not even making sense anymore_...

Minutes later, he still lay in his bed, frowning at a dark wall. In his musings, he had realized something. _I wonder how Donnie's doing_... His frown deepened. _God, I never really_... Leonardo relaxed and gave a sigh, flipping onto his side so he could stare at the door. _I'll talk to him in the morning_...

Before he fell asleep, he felt something odd. Hollowness. Like... something was missing. He shrugged it off, however, as just missing his brothers.

He didn't know how right that feeling was.

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Thus was the life of the three turtles. Ah yes, you're probably confused. Three, you say, what are you talking about? There's four. No, no. In fact, in this little tale, things went a little bit differently...

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A small, grey rat watched the smaller, green figures fall down into the gutters and scampered on to find what they were. It somehow managed to frown with its long muzzle as it looked at what was slowly mingling with the water near the gutter. However, it didn't have time to figure out what it was, as the lumps had fallen into the sewer, small enough to fall through the grate and unable, it seemed, to stop.

The rat squeezed its body through the grate, finally coming through with a nearly inaudible _pop_ noise. Continuing on, it followed the short trail of the slow-moving, glowing, green stuff, and paused in its travels as it saw a few lumps.

After a moment of staring at them, as they were moving through it as though it were molasses, the rat inched forward, and one of the lumps moved a bit, revealing a pair of eyes. The rat jumped in surprise and leaned forward, pulling the creature out of the goop by a leg. It seemed to smile at him, still covered in the goop, then shook, getting the goop all over the rat's face.

The rat cleared out its eyes, then searched the glowing stuff for a few more moments, then pulled two others out, whom then proceeded to shake all over him as well. It looked around itself, occasionally pulling one of them closer slightly to prevent them from wandering off. Finally it found a suitable container, a coffee can. It carefully pulled one closer with both paws, then held it over the tin gently. However, it was all in vain as the small green thing snapped at his hands, causing the rat to squeak and let it fall into the can. It proceeded to squeak viciously at the creature in the can, who snapped back at it.

The rat ignored the still-snapping little one, and put its uninjured paw on the ground next to the next one, as though asking it to step on. At first it just stared at the paw for a moment, then stepped hesitantly onto it, eyes widening as it was carried into the air, then placed gently into the can. The snapping one proceeded to completely ignore the curious one to almost _glare_ at the rat.

Turning to the last one, the rat felt something: confusion. The last one seemed to be staring at the can apprehensively, as though searching for something. It looked back to the thick goop behind it and slowly began to crawl towards it, focused intently. The rat felt another thing: annoyance. It scampered forward a bit and snatched the last creature up, who gave a weak little struggle, still intent on going to the goop. The rat held tight then finally laid the last one into the can. The snapping one seemed to give up on snapping at the rat and nipped at the newest arrival's tail, whom snapped back, causing the agitated one to stop and go to another side of the can. The curious one just sat still, looking at the other two as if studying them.

The rat stared at the little drama going on inside the can, then shook off the feeling. Suddenly, his mind provided him with a word. _Turtle_. It blinked for a moment, studying these so called turtles, then picked up the can with one paw and struggled to pull it deeper into the sewers, to a place of comfort and solitude.

As its tail turned the corner like a snake, movement other than the natural flowing came from the deepest part of the goop. A light green head popped up from the goop, then looked around, as if confused. It slowly crawled out of the glowing stuff, then shook itself off, if not a bit weakly, as it had been under it for what seemed to be a long time. The small turtle blinked slowly, looking around, then began stepping surprisingly quickly towards the tunnel that it had seen the movement in.

It crawled. And crawled... and continued on. After about an hour of continuous meaningless walking, it began to slow, then finally stopped. Its eyelids drooped, and it gave a soft little yawn, then suddenly collapsed right next to a wall. The last turtle had fallen asleep, never to realize nor remember what it could have found with that rat, nor the other three ones of its kind. Its heart began to slow in the darkness and musty air of the coldest corner of the sewers. The beating grew softer and slower...

And slow...

Slower...

Stop.

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Now. I would like to know if you guys would like me to continue this and let Mikey-boy live, or let him stay this dramatic. So guys, what'll it be: an actual story, or a oneshot? Here would be the plot of the next chapter if any: Someone finds the little turtle. Someone... not nice. Years later, the three others invade Bishop's labs and find something that they had lost years ago. So, review, don't care how long, thanks for reading!


	2. Of Labs, Needles, and Barney

_We Are Three_

A Ninja Turtles fanfic

Chapter 2

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So. I have this one next. I just wanted to write half-fluff. Isn't this one weird? I'll get into the actual story soon. Next chapter I'll write a flashback on how exactly poor little Mikey survived and got into this predicament. I would **really appreciate it if someone told me the exact shades of green the turtles are in their review**. I like bold... Aaaanyways, I present to you lovely people who review oh-so-nicely, the next flufftastic chapter of... _We Are Three_!

Mood Music: (Near the end) Any fluffy stuff, "You Are My Sunshine" by Sarah Hickman. (Best version)

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Baxter Stockman stared at the figure on the other side of the thick glass. Inside of the pure white room, the thing stared back. Baxter raised his hand, it raised its hand. He turned to the scientist beside him, who seemed intent on documenting absolutely everything about the thing on a single sheet of paper.

"Bridges, how much has the... _terrapin creature_," he spat, "grown since yesterday?"

The man grinned up at him, completely ignoring the poisonous tone in Baxter's voice. "It's nearly doubled in size, sir! This is a massive discovery! Where did you _find_ this creature? Will you-"

"The sewers. That's all you need to know." Dr. Stockman snapped. The man wilted and went back to the creature. The doctor smirked. _He's new_...

His gaze turned sharply onto the turtle-like being in the containment facility, then he suddenly smirked. Instead of the usual clueless expression on its face, the turtle held a look of fear. Stockman wondered why for a moment, then realized that he could see the reflection of another doctor behind him, holding up a large, sharp-looking needle.

Turning around, he snatched the medical tool out of the other's hand and took long, deliberate strides towards the entrance to the white room. The turtle inside scrambled away from the door, pulling itself away using all four limbs, despite the fact that its back legs were awkwardly longer than the front.

Stockman barely managed to hold in a snicker at its furious attempts at escape as he stepped towards him. The scientist, Bridges, approached the door behind him nervously.

"Um, sir, would you like someone to help you with that? The subject seems a bit desperate..." his eyebrows furrowed as he saw Stockman shake his head.

"No. I'm sure I can deal with such a minor creature as this," he said. He took a few more steps towards the creature and kneeled down.

"N-no."

Complete silence. The voice that had said it was too high to be either Stockman nor Bridges, or even the doctor whom had given him the needle.

Stockman glared at the creature and grabbed its closest arm, the left. This time he saw it. The being opened its mouth and called out in fear, "No!"

Of course, the 'side-kick' is always the first to point out the obvious. "It... it just _spoke_!" He rushed into the room and kneeled down in front of the flailing terrapin and put his hands on its shoulders with little problem. "S-say something else!"

Instead, it just repeated the word, "N-no?"

This didn't seem to disrupt the green scientist's enthusiasm, though. He turned to Stockman, who was glaring at the little turtle. "Isn't this a-_amazing_? I mean, the government... people would pay... this could be almost a new part of evolution! This creature is...!" he started trailing off and began writing furiously in the pad of paper he had on the floor.

Instead of joining in the praise, Stockman pushed the other to the side so he could grab both shoulders of the panicking turtle, holding it still, despite the fact that its feet were kicking ineffectively at him.

"No! No, no, no!" it seemed that the turtle had chosen 'no' as its key word.

"Be quiet!" he snapped furiously. One could hear the _snap_ as the small turtle's mouth clamped shut, suddenly absolutely terrified of this man. "Good."

Instead of leaving as the terrapin had wanted, the man leaned forward and let go of one shoulder. He reached into a pocket and took out the _thing_.

Stockman grinned maliciously as the being's struggles had begun anew with even more vigor. Apparently it didn't like needles. _It will get used to them by the time we're done with it_... He nearly snickered out loud at that thought, but held it it.

He held its left arm still, holding it in place, then crudely shoved the pointed end of the needle into its arm. It attempted to worm out of his grip, but only managed to hit his knee enough that Stockman was fairly sure he was going to have a bruise later. He proceeded to pull at the end of the needle, removing what looked to be a lot of blood to the turtle.

Though the little terrapin had _no_ idea whatsoever what that stuff in the needle was, it _did_ know that it was supposed to be inside. Not in a tube thing. It did the only thing that seemed to make sense at the time...

"_Gah_!" Stockman jumped back, letting the needle fall to the floor with a soft _tac_. He held onto his left arm carefully and rushed out of range of the little turtle. "That creature actually _bit _me!"

Ah yes, instincts are odd things, aren't they?

Meanwhile, Bridges was writing down everything that was happening in annoying detail. He even wrote down the fact that Stockman had just ran out of the room, shouting something about rabies shots and terrible terrapins. He looked up at the subject, then his eyes softened.

The poor little thing was actually crying. The term _crocodile tears_ came to mind, but he promptly shoved that out of reach. He shuffled forward, a bit nervous. "You okay, little guy? ...Er, gal? ...Whatever you are?" Temporarily forgetting what he was doing, he scribbled a few words on the pad, _Note to self_:_ find gender of subject_.

Bridges reached out slightly, but the little turtle flinched back. He frowned as he saw its left arm, still bleeding slightly. _Stockman should have been a lot more gentle with the little... uh... turtle._ Bridges reached into one of the many pockets of his large lab coat, and pulled out a few sheets of notes, then what he wanted.

A tiny Barney bandage. The turtle began to sniffle as opposed to sob. However, it was still rubbing its left arm. A drop of blood was slowly making a macabre trail down the small arm. _Wow, Stockman must have been a bit more crude than usual_..._ it looks like he nearly _stabbed _it in_... Bridges leaned forward, then removed the bandage from its package, then lightly pulled the turtle's hand away from the minor injury.

As the little terrapin watched, confused into silence, he put the Barney-marked thing on top of the no-longer bleeding spot.

He watched the little thing for a moment, while it tipped its head to the side. Bridges gave it a little smile and put his hand on top of its head. "You remind me of my daughter... she's six now." He rubbed his hand a bit in a way that would have messed up a normal person's hair. The only reason this didn't was because the little turtle had no hair whatsoever.

It made a strange little noise. After a moment, Bridges realized that it had giggled. He beamed. "Aw, you're the cutest little thing I've seen since my daughter!"

Terrapin watched. Then smiled. "Cu... cu... cute... Cute!" it proclaimed proudly, a big smile on its face.

"Wow, you learn fast, too!"

"Cute, no, cute, no!" it chanted, quite proud and happy of its achievement.

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Once again, thanks for reading, and a double thanks for all who reviewed! I didn't think I'd get that many reviews!

Oh, a warning: **I will skip around times**. I'm not good at writing in chronological order, so there will be a lot of skipping around. _**Please**_give me a vote or three on the poll on my profile. I need to know what you people want!

Please review, it'll make my day as good as, if not better than, my birthday! 8D

S.B.nnn

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	3. Unconsiousness and Being Lost in Thought

_We Are Three_

A (Teenage Mutant) Ninja Turtles fanfic

Chapter 3

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_Notes_: Hey guys, yeah, I wanted to do this quick. So. I'm probably not gunna' update 'till next week or so, I have to do school stuff. (sigh)... Anyways, here's the next chapter!

Ack, no mood music this time, there's no particular mood for this one, it's how you interpret it. I guess I just wanted to rant. I'm trying not to rush it into a plot hole or some other big block, so I'm doing this slowly. A few chapters to show while they're young.

And when you're done, for the_love of god read the AN at the end__!_

Oh, and I'm not good at keeping promises, so no Flashbacks this chappy. 8D

_**Important**_: There's some time between the different points of views, so no, Mikey isn't a lot slower than the others. I just am really bad at portraying characters at young ages. --;

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"No needle. Don't like needle," the little terrapin chanted, as it had for the last ten minutes. Baxter Stockman glared at the creature, who gave its own little glare back. Minor as it was, it was still an interesting concept.

This little creature learned that that face meant 'needle time', as it had begun calling it. As opposed to getting used to the pain as Stockman had hypothesized it would, it remained subject to pain and needles. The last seven- yes, seven- times that Stockman had attempted to get a sample of the terrapin being's flesh or shell, that odd scientist, Bridges, had come to the room with what he decided to call 'meals'.

They had soon learned that the terrapin greatly disliked bitter things, as it had spat out the first bits of random greenery it had been given. Then deciding to cry, all the scientists had panicked, and Bridges had given it the first edible thing he could reach, a lollipop from a coat pocket. He had looked at it a few moments, as though he had no idea where it had come from, then unwrapped it and gave it to the sobbing turtle.

Oddly enough, the terrapin had stared at it, then promptly shoved it in its mouth as though it knew exactly what it was.

Unfortunately... this was the only good thing that had happened to it for a while.

Today Baxter Stockman had a mission, and he had the tools to make it happen. He had ordered Bridges to work on another project, just for this week. At first the troublesome professor had hesitated and protested, but Stockman 'insisted'. Actually, to be more precise, he ordered.

Another large breakthrough in the studies of the creature was its gender. After much studies of it and correct as well as incorrect guesses, they had finally figured out that the terrapin was male. For lack of a better thing to call it, Stockman had dubbed the turtle-like creature "Subject one." Most of the scientists had begun calling it one word or the other, but Stockman himself insisted on keeping the area professional.

A little whimper returned Stockman from his musings on the sin against humanity- as he referred to it mentally. His eyes darted to the creature on the other side of the glass wall, where Subject one was currently attempting to scoot as far away as possible. This caused his smirk to grow. He knew this reaction, as Subject one was beginning to chant again.

"Don't like it... don't like needle..." he mumbled, pressing his shell against the pure white wall. It began breathing faster as it realized that Stockman had come towards the door, snatching a needle from another person in a white coat. The thing that confused him was that the needle already had something in it.

On instinct, Subject one began looking inconspicuously and unconsciously through the clear window for the nice man, whom the man in the doorway had called Bridges. He liked Bridges, he gave him something on his arm. That, and he brought food.

Stockman took large strides towards the turtle, not hesitating in the least. He had to restrain himself from snickering as he saw the fear in the creature's eyes. Instead of dallying like he had before, Stockman just reached forward and used its left arm to tug it up. Before the subject had a chance to do anything in the least, Stockman had jabbed the needle in its arm, then pressed the fluid inside into its bloodstream. As he pulled the needle out, Stockman watched the creature to see its reaction to the substance he had injected in.

First thing's first, the terrapin struggled tooth and nail to get to the other side of the room, rubbing where the needle had entered in its arm, tears leaking down its cheeks, whimpering. "No... ooh... needle, pain... bad..." In all, it was pretty much gibberish.

However, what caused him glee was what happened next. Its blinks began to slow, as well as the fact that its crawling had suddenly grown a lot less frantic. It could barely put one three fingered hand in front of the other. Finally, it let out a weird little mix of a sigh and a sob and collapsed, his carapace making a _clack_ noise as it fell against the perfectly pristine white of the floor.

Stockman kept his face cold as he leaned over near the creature's face. Its eyes blinked slowly, eye-ridges furrowed together in frustration. _It's probably wondering why it's so sleepy_._ What a hebetudinous creature_... Stockman held these thoughts to himself and whispered in the terrapin's ear, just before it fell unconscious...

"Let's see what makes you tick..."

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Splinter smiled down at the little creatures that were currently following him. One, the olive green one, was chatting happily to a dark green one in surprisingly well-structured sentences, while the dark green one was barely understanding, but nodding anyways. The rat's joy faded somewhat as his eyes landed on the last one.

The basic green turtle was pretending to listen to the olive green turtle, but it was obvious to Splinter that his mind was elsewhere. He had been like this quite a lot, and it worried the old rat. Usually toddlers he had seen where like the other two terrapins, a lot more curious, emotional... yet this one was a lot more... quiet, to say the least. While the other two had been babbling gibberish for a while before they actually said any real words, the last son had kept quiet for a long time, then suddenly began speaking oddly well.

As the group of four turned a corner, he began thinking of something. The names he had been calling these turtles for some time... the olive green one, he was thinking of naming Donatello, the dark green, Raphael, and the third Leonardo. A little frown came to his face, as another name promptly came to mind, then fled before he could think of what it was. He shook it off then continued his musings on the one he called Leonardo.

Splinter paused in his walking to kneel and put his hand on the depressed-looking turtle's shoulder. "Leonardo... what is troubling you? You seem occupied with something..."

The most curious of his sons, Donatello, suddenly piped up at him, "What's 'octopied' mean?"

A smile came unbidden to Splinter's face. "That is, 'occupied', little one. It means your brother is busy thinking about something." He turned back to Leonardo and repeated the question.

"Nothing is wrong Master Splinter. I'm good," the basic green turtle insisted, but the look on his face betrayed him.

However, the rat decided that he would continue with his questions later, as Raphael and Donatello were beginning to yawn and rub their eyes. Instead, he straightened up. "Come, sons. We must find shelter." As he began walking again with the turtles following him faithfully, he realized what he had just done.

He had realized they were family.

They were his sons.

Still... something was... missing... Splinter smiled larger as he realized that Raphael had come up beside him and was half leaning on his grey furred side. _I will pursue this later_... _for now is time for family_...

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Okay guys. Tell me what you thought! I don't care if you already reviewed, I still need encouragement to tell me that you guys are still here! I'm a bit of a clinger.

Also guys, I have a request. In your review, would you guys give me a song to inspire me next chapter? Like if it's a happy song I'd do something like more of a flashback to happy stuff with Mikey 'n Bridges (whom I still need a first name for). Maybe I'd also put a little happy thing with Splinter and his family. But if you guys request sad songs, then I'd do the next chapter as more of a mourning thing, and if you choose something angry, then I'd do something in Bishop's POV about how Mikey is a complete freak of nature and a parody of humankind, blah blah blah. So basically, mood music!

If you guys have enough time, would you mind putting in a vote on my profile? I put up a new one. 8D I like polls! XD

Thanks for reading!


	4. Three or Four?

_We Are Three_

A Ninja Turtles fanfic

_Chapter 4_

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So, for the mood music, I unfortunately skipped around the songs quite a lot, occasionally doing one that had nothing to do with the scene.

WELL! I have skipped fifteen 'r so years! Meeting time!

...Sadly enough, this has become my longest fic. O.o I don't continue stuff. This has become bigger in four days than my original big one was in like... six months 'r more. --; I. Feel. Proud.

Somewhere I Belong: Linkin Park

Hero: Nickelback

Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Green Day

**Check this one out!**: One More Round: BarlowGirl

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Raphael glared. And glared some more. And glared even more after _that_. He finally let out a sigh as he realized the doors weren't getting tags.

He reached up to the headset over his ears and pressed a button. "Yo, Don."

A moment of static, then... "_What do you want!? We're busy_!"

Raphael let out a snort. "Careful there, that's my job." He looked around the long, white hallway and took a few strides forward. "So. There's a _lot_ of doors. Any people tellin' you which door is the one with the plans?"

A loud crack came from the earphones and a soft scream. "_No. What were you expecting, a big sign that said, 'Way to shut down large amounts of Stockman's mousers at one time'_?" Donatello let out a little sigh. "_Sorry, just not having a good day_."

"You're telling me..." Raphael muttered, then continued, "So do I just open random doors until I find something?"

"..." extremely loud static answered him. Raphael grunted in annoyance and turned back to the hallway.

"Well..." He guessed there were about fifty doors, evenly spaced. His eyes landed on the one not-so evenly spaced door. Extremely long spaces on either side of the door was empty of everything. His beak bent into an interested smirk. "Well, hello..."

He practically bounced over to the door, and swung it open, thinking a moment too late to pull out his sais. For a moment he looked like an idiot, flinging open a door then struggling with his belt. However, this was remedied in a moment, as he placed himself in the most threatening position he could, complete with his most lethal death glare, daring anyone to laugh at the guy with the pointy things and the will to kill.

It was all in vein, however, as he noticed no one was in the room. He groaned and began to leave when he heard something...

"...Who are you...?" it rasped.

Raphael spun around, again fully prepared to defend himself. Once again, he didn't see anything. He finally decided to remain in the room, then looked around.

It was pretty much the most empty, sterile room he had ever seen. Everything was pure white. In the middle of the room was a large wall, about up to his waist. Up from that it was just an extremely thick looking pane of glass, so clean that the only reason he knew it was there was because he could see his reflection. A table protruded from the wall, containing not even a single paper. Four pristine white chairs sat against the table. At one side of the wall with the mirror a door lay, a keyhole evident, but still as white as could be.

As he took in a breath, Raphael noticed something odd about the air, and proceeded to sniff the air again. His expression curled somewhat as he realized that there was a thick overlaying scent of blood and medicine.

Raphael carefully began to approach the pane of glass, then paused. _Why am I acting like I'm in a horror movie_? He rolled his eyes and slouched a bit, walking a lot more carelessly towards the glass.

"Hi!" Something green popped up in front of him, violently destroying the silence.

"WOAH!" Raphael shouted out, taking a step back and ungracefully tipping over. He promptly bounced back up and confronted what exactly had dared to surprise him.

His eyes darted back up and to the person. Green. Carapace. Edge of shell. Amber met with sapphire.

Complete silence.

On the other side of the glass wall, the other let out a weird croak noise. "Y-you're..." It took a step back, eyes as wide as could be. "You're like me."

Raphael numbly lifted a hand up to the headphones. "G-guys? You're gunna' want to come over here."

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As he ducked a hit from one of the frantic scientists that had somehow entered the fray, Leonardo hit the butt of his right sword into his chin, effectively knocking him backward. As he turned to the next one, he felt something.

A warm feeling filled him and caused him to slow slightly. However, despite the fact he was slower, he was even more efficient in his fighting. Leo's dark eyes softened, and for some reason he felt like he had accomplished something great.

The sound of static attacked his ears and for a moment he wondered what the hell was happening. Embarrassment attacked his senses as he realized it was just the headphones. He began to worry, however, as he heard the words.

"_G-guys? You're gunna' want to come over here_." Raph's voice wavered, and Leo was sure it wasn't just interference

Shoving a sword into the belt around his waist to free a hand, Leo continued to block every weak or strong attack from around him with his remaining blade and brought up a hand to press the button. "Raphael, what's wrong?"

Leo had the distinct feeling that his younger brother was shaking his head or ignoring him completely. "_Jus'_..._ come over here_._ Please_."

It was then that Leonardo understood the urgency of what was happening. Their red masked brother never actually _asked_ things, he more demanded them. "Leave the door open so we can find you."

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Donatello was a step behind Leo, so when Leonardo froze in the doorway, he had absolutely no idea what it was about. Then again, with the way his oldest brother had become horribly rigid, he wasn't too sure he _wanted_ to know.

He gently nudged Leo aside, whom didn't even give a light protest, just kind of leaned into the door frame. Donatello gave him a strange look and turned to the inside of the room. Raphael sat on the floor, head against the wall and his eyes closed. His arms were crossed over his chest as he attempted to keep his breathing in check.

Don finally turned to the center of the room. First, he thought it was only his reflection. Then he realized his 'reflection' was sitting on the ground, had a more blue complexion, and wasn't wearing a mask.

"W-who... what..." his oddly doe-like eyes had widened to what seemed the largest they could.

Raphael suddenly snapped his neck back down and glared at him. "What do you think?" he growled. He turned to look at the door.

Their oldest brother promptly unfroze. "It may just be an experiment of Stockman's." He gave the figure on the other side of the glass a light glare. "It might just be a trap."

Its blue eyes heated up. "How do I know that _you_ aren't the trap?"

Donatello jumped. "It can hear us?"

"That's '_he_', thank you very much," he snapped furiously, suddenly extremely angry, then promptly went limp. "I've had enough tests done to be sure of _that_..." a grin promptly came to his face. "So who are you guys?"

"I'm Leonardo, that's Donatello, and that's Raphael. Who are you?" Leo said, his words clipped off.

The turtle inside stood up and wiped himself off from some imaginary dust. "I'm Subject one." His grin deepened. "Then again, I'm the only subject, so my title is kind of weird."

Raphael piped up, "You don't have a name?"

Subject one tilted his head up to presumably look at the light above him. "Nah. I'm just a turtle, why would they give me a name?" if anything, it sounded like he was just parroting something someone else said, and bitterly at that. He then gestured to the group of three on the other side. "Then again, look who I'm talking to." The glowing grin faded into odd bitterness. "But then, who can tell if you're even real? If _I'm _even real..."

"_That's_ a depressing thought," Raphael muttered sarcastically, more or less completely disregarding the comment.

Subject one let out a strangely ostentatious laugh. "Well I've had a lot of time to think about it."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Awkwardly, Don asked, "How long _have_ you been in here?"

"Not too long," one said sarcastically, "Only about fifteen years." He looked to be in thought. "I _do_ go into the hall pretty often, heard a lot about 'outside', but never been there."

Complete silence. Subject one looked nervous. "What did I say?"

**BBBB**

Feel happy. When I updated it was still Sunday. That's my excuse. 8D So, do you love me now? Well, I'll ruin it: I won't update 'till about Friday or Saturday. Sorry, I'm trying to think up the next chapter. ...Also, I'd like a few reviews for "Seeing Red". Shameless self advertisement works, I tell you!

I've also fell for the spell of the cute 'lil Donny. He's become in a tie for my favourite character, just the way I keep describing his eyes... (sigh)...

S.B.nnn


	5. Chapter SIX

I'm extremely EXTREMELY sorry. I've pretty much given up on this.

I've SKIPPED CHAPTER FIVE. THIS IS CHAPTER SIX.

**This chapter doesn't make much sense for a reason. I can't write the escape AT ALL so I've skipped directly to the turtles being back at their lair. I'm sincerely sorry that this took so long, so please don't expect another chapter after this one. I just wanted to give you this last little bit of angst and "character development". If anyone- ANYONE- wants to continue writing this for me, then go ahead. Please link me to it. I'd love to see how this turns out, but I really can't write anymore.**

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Disclaimer: Still don't own TMNT. At all.

**BBBB**

Blue eyes squinted at the glowing screen, then darted to the small mechanism in his hands. They quickly looked back up as he realized an alarming beep was sounding from it. A few presses of the device in his hands in the right places placated it.

In front of him lay the most horrible creature he had ever seen. Large black tendrils extended from the main part, a pair of deep, glowing red eyes seemed to sneer at him. The dark energy flung towards the green being, though he jumped up coolly, avoiding any and all damage.

"You won't escape me this time, fowl beast..." he growled out between clenched teeth. Leaping forward at amazing speeds and height impossible for a human, no matter how strong or athletic they may be. However, he wasn't human.

A grunt escaped his lips involuntarily as he jerked his arms forward in a complicated maneuver, jabbing his weapon between the creature's eyes; at its brain. The weakest part. As he fell to the ground and landed like a cat he snickered. _Have to use that one later_..._._

He was brought back to the ensuing fight as a ear-shattering shriek assaulted him. The being wavered, long tendrils flailing horribly. Some sort of black-blue liquid basically _shot_ out in a stream from between its eyes. In all it could have been the pure manifestation of panic.

To his surprise, instead of just collapsing in a heap or exploding... or _anything_ like that, it seemed to only grow _larger_. The tendrils suddenly sprouted deadly-looking hooks. Arms and legs materialized within the rampant tentacles. A mouth appeared.

"Oh, you foolish creature... I suppose that you'd have thought that you could have killed me, didn't you?" the warped voice snickered. The tendrils shook slightly at the laugh, causing the blue-eyed male to flinch. "Well you will go on no longer. For I _will_ become the ruler of this kingdom... whether you like it or **not**!"

A fireball erupted from its mouth at the hero, who yelped in alarm, jumping out just in time. Blue eyes narrowed. "So, you reveal yourself for what you really are, do you?" The being ignored him, settling on just slamming tendrils into the ground, knocking bricks from their places and knocking a pillar down.

**BBBB**

Donatello strode carefully into the room, where Leonardo and Raphael seemed to be having a stare-down. A three-fingered hand silently pulled out a chair, which he sank into. The other brothers looked away from each other for a moment. Leo caught his eye, while Raphael just turned away.

The purple-banded turtle frowned. "Subject one is... very... engrossed in your game, Raphael." A smirk danced gently on the end of his beak. "In fact, in the time he's gotten, he's gotten further than your file."

Amber eyes burned into his for a moment, blazing like an inferno. Donatello shuffled uncomfortably, beginning to regret his comment. Raphael just rolled his eyes with a sigh and flipped him off, leaning back into his chair.

"About that..." Leo cut in suddenly, disturbing the silence.

Don blinked at him for a moment. "About the game?" He winced at his red-banded brother's annoyed glance.

"No, his name. 'Subject one' is a bit..." Leonardo seemed to be searching for a word.

"Stuffy."

Donatello raised an eyebrow at Raphael's comment, but Leo gave him a surprisingly grateful smile. "Yeah, stuffy." He tilted his head back. "If he's going to be here for a while, he might as well have a better name... Or just a name in the first place."

"Leonardo..." Don gave him a stern glance. "Subject one is extremely unlikely to be our real brother. All we know is that he's a turtle. He's probably a spy." He heaved a strong breath, beginning to seethe. "Even if he wasn't, which I really doubt, he wouldn't last a minute being around the _lifestyle_ **we**_ lead!_"

Another uncomfortable silence.

"Donnie." Said olive-green brother jumped. None of his brothers had used that name since they were little. Since before they had realized what the world was really like. Since they realized they wouldn't belong. "Donnie..." Raphael repeated, genuine... _something_ in his voice. "He's a mutant turtle... we're mutant turtles... He was in a _lab_ for his whole life for f*ck's sake!" Leo winced at the language, but didn't interrupt. "I don't give a _shit_ if he's not our brother. He deserves to be treated..."

Leonardo clenched his fists. "Human."

Hardened brown eyes glared at the ground, olive-green fists clenched as though attempting to destroy the source of his problems by mere will alone. For a moment, Donatello wondered if this was what Raphael felt like all the time.

A sharp breath in, a sharp breath out. A slow breath in, a soft breath out. "I..." His brothers looked at him, eyes filled with expectations. For what, he didn't know. But he would give them what he thought would be the best answer... "...Michelangelo."

"...Wait, what?" Raphael said in his thick New York accent. Don had always wondered where he had gotten that. Either way, his red-banded brother was confounded.

"Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is the long version. An Italian Renaissance artist..." Leaning back, a soft smile washed over Donatello's face. "His name would fit in with ours..."

**BBBB**

Subject one paused the game, wincing as he realized he was just about to get squished by one of the hooked tendrils when he un-paused the game. However, he carefully got up from the couch, making sure his shell didn't touch anything solid enough to make a sound.

Fortunately, he was blessed with enough luck that he didn't make a sound. He bit his lip/beak in anxiety, hearing muffled voices from the direction of the kitchen.

The un-banded turtle paused outside the old bricks of the door frame. The voices were clear. The other turtles' words were finally audible... though he had a feeling he would regret this little fact.

The voice of the one he thought was called "Leo" was the one he caught first. "...going to be here a for a while, he might as well have a better name... Or just a name in the first place."

A gigantic smile burst onto Subject one's face. He really _did_ despise his title, and from what he was hearing the others (or Leo at least) were planning on re-naming him!

A moment of silence. Finally, a cold voice froze him in place. "Leonardo..." The threatening tone grasped around his heart like ice. "Subject one is extremely unlikely to be our real brother. All we know is that he's a turtle. He's probably a spy." A strong heave of breath indicated the fact that he was giving in to his anger. "Even if he wasn't, which I really doubt, he wouldn't last a minute being around the _lifestyle_ **we**_ lead!_"

Subject one's legs suddenly felt extremely limp. "W-what...?" he whispered, near silent. "No... no, no... all of them agreed... I'm not..."

Flash!

"_Stupid_..._"_

**Grief.**

Flash!

"_Nothing but a useless animal!"_

**Self-pity.**

Flash!

"_He could prove to be a problem if he should, at any time, escape."_

**Pain.**

Flash!

"My fault..."

**BBBB**

Bridges carefully glanced to the entrance of the room, then quickly looked back to the little turtle. Large, electric-blue eyes shone back to him with a spark. They blinked curiously at him.

"Okay... do you remember what we did yesterday?" Bridges asked kindly. However, to his disappointment, the little turtle only gave him a look and bit his lip. "Can you define an integer?"

"U-um..." Blue-green hands fiddled, six fingers intertwining and messing around. "I..." His eyes began to mist over slightly as small, crystal-like beads of liquid appeared in the corners of his eyes. Tears. "I..." Suddenly sobbing erupted from his beak, tears began to flow freely.

"Come now, little guy! It's alright, you did nothing wrong! In fact, you've done quite well lately." Bridges gave him a large smile, shuffling. His large, white lab-coat was extremely uncomfortable for this position.

While this happened, he failed to see the door slowly creak open and a pair of glasses-clad eyes glance in. A mouth bent into a cruel smirk.

"Listen, shell-shocker." The little turtle was barely sniffling. He gave a weak smile at the nickname. "An integer is a full number. Negative or positive, it doesn't matter. Do you know what that wouldn't include?"

"Hm..." Subject one's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he put all effort into his thoughts. His face was completely dry of any and all tears. "Uh, numbers with the little point-y, dot-y thingies?"

"Yes!" Bridges said. "They're called 'decimals', but you got the ma-"

"How _dare you!_"

The voice caused the occupants of the glassed-in room to jump. A look of complete and utter horrified fear seized Bridges by the heart.

"M-mister Stockman! Sir, I... was..." The lab-coat clad man shot up, sweating.

Baxter Stockman glared at him, a small glint of triumph shining in the back of his eyes. "No need to explain. Because I don't care. You've interfered with our tests long enough, Bridges."

"But-"

"You _also_ can't tell anyone about what we've been doing here." Stockman gave him the most cruel, perverse grin he had ever seen. "So we'll just have to dispose of you. _Immediately_."

On cue, a pair of heavily armed guards, complete with bullet-proof vests and bulging muscles, burst into the room. They stormed over to the door of the small room, proceeding to let Stockman open the door for them. The duo actually had to _duck_ to get in through the door.

The beat of his heart seemed to slow slightly in Bridges' ears. It was over. He couldn't do anything anymore.

As the duo of guards began to exit the room, Stockman raised a hand to stop them. "Good sirs, would you mind using euthanasia on that man immediately? He could prove to be a problem if he should, at any time, escape."

The taller of the two, who also happened to have a little less muscle, stared at him for a moment. "What about..." he gestured to the small turtle, who seemed frozen to his spot, barely breathing.

"It doesn't matter! Nothing but a useless animal!" Baxter snapped, then seemingly calmed. "Quickly now."

The guards looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged. "You're the boss..." the shorter mumbled, bringing out a small, black pistol.

Bridges locked his hazel eyes to those of the small turtle. The frozen looking electric blue jolts seemed to be frozen. A soft smile formed on his lips.

The metal met the side of his head, digging roughly into his scalp, messing up his hair.

_Bang_.

It wasn't that loud. It seemed to echo. So did the thump that followed as they let the corpse fall to the ground. Baxter rolled his eyes and said something to the tall guard, who picked up the body of the former researcher from the ground and left the room, mumbling something about 'disposal'.

Stockman let out a barking laugh and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

...

Electric blue eyes slowly traveled from the pure white of the door to the former pure white wall.

Red.

Red.

Red.

White.

Red.

...

He screamed.

Flash! Flash! Flash, flash, flash! FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH-

Stop.

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End file.
